Trouser topping apparatus and steam system for use therein



F. H. RICHTERKESSING TROUSER TOPPING APPARATUS AND STEAM SYSTEM FOR USETHEREIN March 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 12,1962

8 m 3 K R m H E R H W m ATTORNEY March 1965 F. H. RICHTERKESSING3,171,575

TROUSER TOPPING APPARATUS AND STEAM SYSTEM FOR USE THEREIN Filed March12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR FRANK H. RICHTERKESSWG BY NLF,

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,171,575 TRQUSER TQPPHQG APPARATUSAND STEAM SY E'Ell'l FGR USE TEEREEN Frank H. Richterlressing,Louisville, Ky, assignor to W. M. Cissell .Manuiactaring Company,Louisville,

Ky, a corporation of Kentucky Filed Mar. 12, 1%2, Ser. No. 180,969 10tilaiins. (will. 223--73) This invention relates to trouser toppingapparatus and more particularly to such apparatus equipped with a steamsystem having improved condensate drainage and ready availability forcarrying out a trouser finishing operation.

As is known, the steam system of such apparatus is normally called uponto supply conditioning steam to the buck; to supply steam for heatingthat buck; to supply steam for heating air; and to supply hot waterwhich may be used for conditioning garments by means of a spray gun orthe like. These several demands for steam are not consistent over aperiod of t me, since the apparatus may be inoperative periodically andsince various types of fabrics requiring different treatments may behandled while the apparatus is operative. As a consequence, ethcientusage of the steam has presented a problem and conventional steamsystems for trousers topping apparatus have generally employedsupplementary valves, traps and controls whose purpose essentially is toaccommodate the apparatus to these varying demands for steam. Moreover,in adthtion to the cost of such supplementary equipment the attention ofthe operator to such equipment frequently is required in order to insurethat the same functions at the proper time, and this required attentiondiverts the operator from his normal duties at the machine. It is apurpose of the present invention to overcome these and otherdisadvantages as found in the conventional forms of steam-using trousertopping apparatus.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved steam system fortrouser topping apparatus requiring a minimum of the operators attentionto secure efiicient usage of steam.

Another object is to provide a simplified steam system for trousertoppin apparatus.

Another object is to provide a steam system for trouser finishingapparatus by means of which the buck may be rapidly heated at thebeginning of o eration, may be rapidly dried it wetted, and may be keptin heated condition during use.

A further object is to provide a steam system for a trouser toppingapparatus in which the supply of wet steam to the buck, the formation ofwater pockets in the steam lines leading to the buck, and the Wetting ofthe buck padding may be substantially reduced.

A still further object is to provide a collector for condensate from atrouser topping apparatus steam system and located in an accessibleposition for attachment of connecting conduits thereto.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds and when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawins, in which:

PEG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a trouser topping apparatusequipped with the steam system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the trouser topping ap- 3,l7l,5?5Patented Mar. 2, i965 paratus showing certain functional parts of thesame other than the steam system.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the metallie portions ofthe buck.

Fi 4 is a sectional view of the assembled condensate lector andcondenser.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of "KG. 4, and

KG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 4 and showing themounting upon the rear wall of the housing.

In accordance with the invention, the steam system is adapted for usewith any suitable trouser topping apparatus having a housing, a bucksupported upon that housing, and a means for supplying, upon call, steamheated air and conditioning steam to that buck While the heating steamfor the buck is being supplied continually thereto. Between the buck andthe usual steam and condensate return line with its automaticallyoperable trap, a multiport condensate collector is provided, one port ofwhich is connected to that line, another port of which is connected tothe line from the air heating means and a third port of which isconnected to a water leg depending from the line which supplies heatingsteam to the buck. The presence of the water in that water leg serves toprevent hack flow of wet steam to the buck. Moreover, when the trapautomatically opens, the system is purged of collected condensatewithout requiring any action on the part of the operator. As anadditional feature, a condenser located oelow the collector is attachedto a fourth port of the same and is adapted to fill with hot condensatewhich may be used for preconditioning garments whenever so desired.

Referring now to FlGS. 1 and 2, the invention may be employed with manytypes of trouser toppers, but it is preferred to use the same with anapparatus of the type more fully disclosed in my copending applicationSerial No. 184,627, filed March 12, 1962, and assigned to the same assigee as the present invention. Such an apparatus comprises a generallyvertical housing having a base lit? adapted to rest on a floor and withparallel side walls 311 and 12. A generally vertical back wall 13 and asloping front wall 14 complete the vertical housing and thus provide agenerally rectangular opening 5 at the upper end thereof. Suitablyattached to the vertical portion or" the housing at a convenient workingheight is a genera ly horizontally extending air duct portion comprisinga single sheet having a right hand side Wall 16, a left hand side wall17, and a curved front wall 13, the back wall, 13, being extended toform the back wall of the air duct portion.

A fiat floor plate 19 for the air duct extends forwardly from the upperedge of wall 14 and terminates adjacent the junction of the side walls15 and 17 with the curved front wall 13 thus to form a downwardlydirected opening through which heated air is to pass to the buck. Inaddition, a hat cover plate 21 is arfixed to the top edges of the rearwall 13 and the walls 16, 1 7 and 18 of the air duct.

A buck and bag assembly is supported from the air duct front wallextending downwardly therefrom, and preferably comprises a bifurcatedand perforated metallic buck member 22 (FIG. 3) and a bag 23 havingpadding (not shown) interposed between the bag and buck. This bag, whichis fluid pervious, has an entrance mouth surrounding the opening fromthe air duct. The prevention of wetting of this bag and its paddingforms an important feature of the present invention.

Passing now to FIGS. 1 and 3, the above described an paratus is providedwith an improved steam system including an inlet pipe through which drysteam is supplied from an overhead steam supply header under control ofa manually operable valve (not shown). This valve is normally left openduring the usual operation. The incoming steam is passed to the centralregion of a conventional separator 31 mounted vertically and interiorlyof the housing and from the lower end of which a conduit 32 extends tothe upper edge of an inclined steam radiator serving as air heater 33.This heater extends across the entire cross section of the verticalhousing and all air moved upwardly in that housing by a blower 34-,suitably controlled by the operator, is guided by the inwardly offsetwall 35 of the housing across the heater, after which the heated airpasses through opening 15, through the air duct, and thence downwardlyinto the bag, supported upon the buck. Condensate and wet steam issuingfrom the lower edge of the heater, and which condensate and steam haveavoided any heat transfer with the buck, pass into an outlet connection36 attached to one side wall port of the condensate collector, later tobe described.

From the top of the separator a conduit 37 leads steam under linepressure to a buck heating conduit 38 which has loop portions 39, 40 and41 connecting as a continuous conduit with the return conduit 2. Theconduit 38 preferably comprises a copper tube suitably attached in goodheat transfer relation to the inner concave surface of the metallic buck22 and the loop portions thereof are distributed over the buck surfaceso as to secure and maintain a rapid and uniform heating of the entirebuck. The lower parts of these loops would normally form sumps in whichcondensate would collect, but in view of the several elements of thesteam system yet to be described, this superficial disadvantage is of noconsequence.

The return conduit 42 passes outwardly of the housing and continuesdownwardly as conduit 43 into a U-shaped water leg section 44 attachedat its end to a second port of the condensate collector located in thebottom surface thereof, as seen in FIG. 6. This U-shaped section 44,when sufiicient condensate collects therein, forms a seal against thereverse flow of wet steam into the heating conduits on the buck andfunctions as an automatically operable check valve permitting thepurging of that heating conduit when trap 55 opens, as later to bedescribed. Considering now FIGS. 4 to 6, a hollow condensate collectorforming a significant feature of the present invention is formed in agenerally L-shape with a rear wall adapted to be mounted rigidly againstthe outer side of the rear wall 13 of the vertical housing. A port 51(FIG. 6) in its rear wall connects with the outlet connection 36 fromthe heater and a similar port 52 in its front wall 53 connects with areturn pipe 54 leading to the usual steam return header and in which aconventional trap 55 such as the No. 880 Armstrong trap is located.Downstream from this trap a conventional check valve 56 is mounted inthe return conduit. As will be understood, the trap 55 is adaptedperiodically and automatically to open and to pass condensate collectedupstream of the trap. whenever a sufiicient volume of such condensate isso collected.

In the floor 57 of the collector a port 58 connects with the upwardlyextending short leg of the water leg 44 and an imperforate roof 59covers the collector. Projecting normally from the rear wall 50 is anelongated chamber 60 in the floor of which is a port 61 (FIG. 4). Ashort pipe 62 connects this chamber with the interior of a condenser 63located below the condensate collector and comprising an upper section64 and a lower section 65 removably attached to each other and betweenwhich a transverse screen 66 is mounted. Suitable bolts '79 hold thecondenser sections together. An O-ring seal 78 between the respectiveconfronting surfaces of the condenser sections prevents leakage whichmight otherwise be caused by the steam pressure upon the condensatetrapped in the condenser. The volumetric capacity of this condenser issuihcient to provide at all times during use the necessary volume of hotwater for preconditioning garments by means of the usual spray gunaccessory. Since the condenser is subject to steam pressure only throughthe pipe 62, the opening of trap 55 does not purge the water from thiscondenser.

A tubular outlet 67 (FIG. 5) extends from the wall of lower section 63and connects with conduit 68 leading to a joint 69. From this joint anoverhead rigid conduit 7% having a flexible tube 71 connected thereto isprovided. The usual spray gun 72 is attached to this flexible tube whichitself may be supported from the rigid conduit by an extensible springor the like 73. By means of a valve 74 seating in the outlet 67, andwhich normally is left open during operation, water under pressure ismaintained in readiness for use by the operator at the spray gun 72.

With the foregoing description in mind, reference now is made to FIGS. 1and 3. A wide range of sizes of trousers and of fabric materialscomprising such trousers may be processed on the apparatus. When thetrousers have pleats, or when they are badly wrinkled, or when they aremade of heavy fabric, a greater or lesser amount of conditioning steammust be brought into contact with the trousers and the amount of suchconditioning steam supplied is dependent upon the judgement of theoperator. A set of controls for the machine forming no part of thepresent invention, is provided for the operator, but even with thebenefit of these controls and in the absence of the present invention,undesirable cooling of the buck might occur.

The invention accordingly provides safeguards of the nature now to bedescribed. Leading from the upper end of separator 31 is a conduit 8dcarrying dry steam at line pressure to a solenoid operated valve 81.From this valve a conduit 82 extends through the horizontal air duct andjoins a header 83 formed of copper tubing or the like which is mountedin good heat transfer relation to the inner concave surface of themetallic buck 22. From this header a pair of downwardly directedconduits 84 and 85 are positioned alongside the loops of the closedheating conduits 38 and 42. A series of spaced openings directed intothe space within the bag 23 and away from the concave surface of thebuck are located in the conduits 84 and 85 with the result that when thevalve 81 opens, dry steam is sprayed into the bag and comes into contactwith the waistband and adjacent portions of the trousers supported bythe bag and buck assembly. A portion of this steam then finds its waythrough the perforations of the buck, the steam and air pervious paddingof that buck, and to the exterior of the front of the buck as seen inFIG. 2. In like manner, hot air supplied by the blower takes a similarpath.

When the buck and its padding is improperly heated as would be caused bystagnant deposits of Water in the closed conduits 33 in contact with themetallic buck, the admission of this conditioning steam would promptlywet the padding of the buck and hold up operations until the same couldbe dried. Such a condition would likely occur if the operator attemptedto process a pair of trousers prior to a complete heating of theapparatus at the beginning of a days operation. In addition, thisundesirable condition could occur if the metallic buck were notsubstantially uniformly heated over its major surfaces. By means of thisinvention, however, only dry steam is sup plied to heating conduit 38and any wet steam which would normally find its way from the collectorstructure back to conduit 42 and into the conduit 38 is prevented fromdoing so by the barrier presented by the water in the water leg 44.

When the trap 55 opens, steam from inlet line 30 sweeps through conduit3'7, conduit 38, the convolutions of conduit 33, conduit 42, and clearsthe water leg. At the same time any water collected in the surnps at thelower ends of loop 39, it; and 41 is swept away and full heating of thebuck is IB-fiSlEtbliSl'lEd without any attention being required from theoperator. Upon reclosing of the trap, condensate from both the radiatorand from conduit 42 again form a water seal in Water leg 44 whichprevents wet steam from finding its way to the buck and cooling thesame. The condensate collector as will be noted, is so constructed andlocated as to be readily accessible for attachment of the return line 5the water leg 44, and the condenser 63 thereto.

Having thus described the invention is a particular embodiment thereof,it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to thatembodiment, since modifications of the same may be made. I, therefore,contemplate by the appended claims to cover such modifications as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. in a trouser topping apparatus having a housing, a buck supportedupon said housing, a conduit for supplying heating steam to said buck,and a steam heater for heating air supplied to said buck; theimprovement comprising,

a hollow multiport condensate collector mounted upon said housing belowsaid buck and said heater to receive through one port thereof condensatefrom said heater derived from steam which has avoided heat transfer withsaid buck,

a return conduit extending from said buck and containing heating steamand condensate passing from heat transfer with said buck,

said return conduit having a water leg connected to a second port ofsaid collector,

and a steam and condensate return pipe connected to a third port of saidcollector and adapted periodically and automatically to remove from saidapparatus the condensate collected in both said collector and said Waterleg,

said water leg being arranged to prevent wet steam from passing fromsaid collector to the heating steam conduit for said buck thereby toavoid cooling of said buck due to the presence of wet steam andcondensate in said heating steam conduit.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said conduit for suppl ingheating steam to said buck includes a plurality of loops attached tosaid buck in heat exchange relation thereto and distributed over thesurface of said buck.

3. In a trouser topping apparatus having a housing, a buck supportedupon said housing, a conduit for supplying heating steam to said buck, aperforated conduit for supplying conditioning steam to said buck, and asteam heator for heating air supplied to said buck; the improvementcomprising a steam separator for receiving dry steam from a steam sourceand for supplying tl e same to each of said heating steam andconditioning steam conduits,

a conduit for supplying steam from said separator to said heater,

a hollow multiport condensate collector mounted upon said housing belowsaid buck and said heater to receive through one port thereof condensatefrom said heater,

a return conduit forming an extension of said conduit supplying heatingsteam to said buck and adapted to remove condensate and wet steam fromsaid buck,

said return conduit having a water leg connected to a second port ofsaid collector,

and a steam and condensate return pipe connected to a third port of saidcollector and adapted periodically and automatically to remove from saidapparatus the condensate collected in both said collector and said waterleg,

said water leg being arranged to prevent wet steam from passing fromsaid collector to the heating steam conduit for said buck thereby toavoid cooling of said buck due to the presence of Wet steam andcondensate in said heating steam conduit.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said conduits forsupplying heating steam and for supplying conditioning steam to saidbuck include a plurality of loops attached to said buck in heat exchangerelation thereto and distributed over the surface of said buck.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 including means disposed in saidconditioning steam conduit for selectively controlling the flow of steamfrom said separator to the perforated portion of said steam conditioningconduit independently of flow of steam from said separator to saidheating steam conduit.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said heater is mounted withinsaid housing below said separator.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said conduit for supplyingeating steam to said buck and said return conduit removing condensateand wet steam from said buck respectively enter and leave said buckadjacent the top portion thereof.

8. in a trouser topping apparatus having a housing, a buck supportedupon said housing, a conduit for supplying heating steam to said buck,means for spraying moisture u on trousers, and a steam heater forheating air supplied to said buck; the improvement comprising a hollowmultiport condensate collector mounted upon said housing below said buckand said heater to receive through one port thereof condensate from saidheater,

a return conduit extending from said buck and containing heating steamand condensate passing from said buclr,

said return conduit having a water leg connected to a second port ofsaid collector,

a hollow condenser connected to a fourth port of said collector andadapted to receive condensate therefrom,

means supplying condensate under pressure from said condenser to saidspraying means,

and a steam and condensate return pipe connected to a third port of saidcollector and adapted periodically and automatically to remove from saidapparatus the condensate collected in both said collector and said waterleg while leaving in said condenser the condensate collected therein,

said water being arranged to prevent Wet steam from passing from saidcollector and said condenser to the heating steam conduit for said buckthereby to avoid cooling of said buck due to the presence of wet steamand condensate in said heating steam con duit.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein said condensate collector ismounted upon the exterior rear wall of said housing and said condenseris supported by said collector and below the same.

10. In a trouser topping apparatus having a housing, a buck supportedupon said housing, a steam separator, a source of steam connected tosaid separator, a conduit for supplying dry steam from said separator tosaid buck for tearing the same, and a return conduit extending from saidbucir for containing heating steam and condensate, the improvementcomprising,

a condensate collector mounted below said buck and spaced from saidsteam separator,

a conduit connecting the lower portion of said separator to saidcollector to pass to said collector steam and condensate which hasavoided heat transfer with said buck,

an automatically operable condensate purging means connected to saidcollector.

and a U-shaped water leg connected at one end to said collector and atthe other end to said return conduit from said buck,

said water leg being adapted to contain a body of condensate sealing theseparator from the return conduit thereby to prevent return flow of wetsteam toward said buck.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,234,232 5/42Richa 22357 g 10/55 Golden 223-73 X 11/55 Moore 223-73 12/55 OBoyle2'2367 4/59 McMillan 223--7O 4/59 Bruiner '22373 FORETGN PATENTS 12/59Great Britain.

19 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

THOMAS HICKEY, Examiner.

1. IN A TROUSER TOPPING APPARATUS HAVING A HOUSING, A BUCK SUPPORTEDUPON SAID HOUSING, A CONDUIT FOR SUPPLYING HEATING STEAM TO SAID BUCK,AND A STEAM HEATER FOR HEATING AIR SUPPLIED TO SAID BUCK; THEIMPROVEMENT COMPRISING, A HOLLOW MULTIPORT CONDENSATE COLLECTOR MOUNTEDUPON SAID HOUSING BELOW SAID BUCK AND SAID HEATER TO RECEIVE THROUGH ONEPORT THEREOF CONDENSATE FROM SAID HEATER DERIVED FROM STEAM WHICH HASAVOIDED HEAT TRANSFER WITH SAID BUCK, A RETURN CONDUIT EXTENDING FROMSAID BUCK AND CONTAINING HEATING STEAM AND CONDENSATE PASSING FROM HEATTRANSFER WITH SAID BUCK, SAID RETURN CONDUIT HAVING A WATER LEGCONNECTED TO A SECOND PORT OF SAID COLLECTOR, AND A STEAM AND CONDENSATERETURN PIPE CONNECTED TO A THIRD PORT OF SAID COLLECTOR AND ADAPTEDPERIODICALLY AND AUTOMATICALLY TO REMOVE FROM SAID APPARATUS THECONDENSATE COLLECTED IN BOTH SAID COLLECTOR AND SAID WATER LEG, SAIDWATER LEG BEING ARRANGED TO PREVENT WET STEAM FROM PASSING FROM SAIDCOLLECTOR TO THE HEATING STEAM CONDUIT FOR SAID BUCK THEREBY TO AVOIDCOOLING OF SAID BUCK DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF WET STEAM AND CONDENSATE INSAID HEATING STEAM CONDUIT.